Bristol Festival of Ideas 2015

Coleridge Lecture:

Reimagining the City

By Melissa Harrison at Wills Memorial Building Reception Room, Bristol

2^nd April 2015

Shelley thought “Hell is a city much like London” when he was writing in the early 19^th century

1851 Urban population exceeded rural population in the UK, 1^st time in the world that this had happened in a country.

It was thought city living “led to death of society”.

[I think that may have something to do with the Palace of Versailles culture.]

Today 82% live in urban environments with the following benefits:

·         Boosted immune response

·         Better mental health treatment

Birdlife saved in UK in 1962 by book “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson about the damaging effects of DDT use as a pesticide to the food chain.

·         Bird of prey who are at the top of the chain were affected by a build up of DDT in their bodies and the effect was that the egg shells became thin and lost integrity leading to a rapid decline in bird populations

Nowadays bees like to dwell in cities to escape from the neo-nicotinoids being used as pesticides in the countryside.

Buddleias are an example of a modern invasive plant into the urban environment that has had a beneficial effect on the environment:

·         Created and supporting an entirely new urban food chain

·         Proving invasive new species can be a good thing

Vision:

City dwellers can experience a new sense of wonder that exposure to nature will bring.